Save American Soccer: Reform Immigration Now!

Too bad Paul is away on vacation, because I’ve found the surefire way to get him to support immigration reform: Current immigration policy hurts American soccer!

Roger Pielke Jr. makes the case at LawInSport.com:

One consequence of the broken immigration system can be seen in US soccer, where certain immigrants to the United States are deemed ineligible to represent Team USA, despite meeting FIFA criteria for eligibility. . .

Consider the case of Diego Fagundez, an 18 year old player for the New England Revolution. Diego scored 13 goals in 2012-2013, making him the youngest player ever to score more than 10 goals in a MLS season. Faugudez has consequently received a lot of attention, and naturally questions have arisen about a possible role playing for the US national team.

But there is one big problem. Fagundez is not eligible to play for the United States because he is not a citizen, despite having lived in the United States since he was 5 years old. . .

Fagundez, like many children of US immigrants lives in the shadows of citizenship, as a citizen of America but not an American citizen. Yet, as Ryan Rosenblatt, a reporter for SB Nation Soccer, has written, “he is as much an American as he is a soccer player.” Fagundez has recently received his Green Card, which gives him permanent residency status, but which also requires a five-year wait to attain citizenship.

Yeah, well, there’s still the problem that soccer is a Euro-commie-socialist sport, with too little scoring and violence.